Victoria University has a clear mandate to undertake research with impact, ensuring that its outcomes benefit people, place and planet. There is no doubt that in research VU is strong, both thematically and pragmatically. For more than 100 years, Victoria University (VU) has offered accessible education to students in Melbourne’s west and beyond.
The decorated Australian swimmer, Emily Seebohm, climbed out of the pool in tears last week … because she won silver. Through a tear-streaked interview, Seebohm apologised to her parents, her coach, and…
I am just going to throw this out there. In a radio interview last week I was asked if Australia should continue to participate in the global sports arms race and increase its investment in elite sport…
Keeping in line with my wish to cover the other side of the Olympics beyond the pure performance side and the medal count I have been thinking about the vast majority of the more than 200 nations at the…
The knives are well and truly out. With no gold medals coming from champion Australian swimmers James Magnussen, Stephanie Rice, Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper and a handful of relay teams at the London…
You’ll have noticed the distances ridden by female and male elite cyclists differ in some Olympic events and are identical in others, which raises the obvious question: why? If we really wanted to simplify…
Bob Stewart of Victoria University discusses doping, cheating and suggestions that drug testing at London 2012 is the most comprehensive we’ve ever seen at an Olympic Games. Further viewing: VIDEO: why…
It has taken too many silver medals to raise the issue to the top of the sport policy agenda.With a big thank you to the President of the Australian Olympic Committee John Coates, this morning from London…
All this fuss about how disappointing these Games are for Australia. How we are well down on the medal tally with countries such as New Zealand, North Korea and Borat’s Kazachstan ahead of us – on the…
Sometimes denial is understandable. It’s no surprise that the Australian Football League maintained for so long the farcical position that “tanking’ (intentionally losing) by clubs was not a problem. It’s…
Hard to believe but it is only 18 months to the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It therefore is not uncommon for the next host to start a massive promotional campaign and that is exactly what the…
With track cycling events now underway at the London Olympics, athletes from around the world are pushing themselves to the limit to outperform their rivals and, hopefully, claim gold. Back here in Melbourne…
Andrew Bolt in his Herald Sun column today argues that we, as a nation, need to work harder - not only as Olympians, but as a collective of Australians. He quotes US-based research that with an increase…
One of the biggest criticisms levelled at organisers of the London Olympics so far has been the obvious large number of empty seats at Games venues. So why are so many seats empty? What’s being done about…
It just hit me when one of the commentators on Channel Nine dismissed a dramatic fall of horse and rider by merely uttering: “Oh, bad luck”. Here was this incredibly dedicated athlete (and his horse) who…
American author and essayist Gore Vidal died at his home on Tuesday from complications of pneumonia. The 86 year old was the author of 25 books, including the historical novels Burr and Lincoln. He also…
The focus of the Olympic Games is quite rightly on athletes who compete in contests where medals are awarded. However, many obscure events, for which medals were not awarded, have been a feature of the…
“Vote for more sex!” Walking through the party pamphleteers to vote in Melbourne last week felt more like passing through a light-hearted student union ballot than a tightly contested state by-election…
From a drug-use control perspective, the 2012 London Olympic Games (LOG) will be the “biggest ever”. Since the Ben Johnson affair at the 1988 Seoul Olympics there has been a concerted effort to secure…
I was, like many of you, intrigued by the title of David Bishop’s article “Sex before sport: does it affect an athlete’s performance”, that he published on the Conversation website recently. It just happens…
It was the worst possible timing ever! I was moving house on the day of the opening ceremony. For years I have been set up with Foxtel to ensure that I was not going to miss any sporting event of great…
Honorary Professor, School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Canada; Adjunct Fellow, Olympic Scholar and Co-Director of the Olympic and Paralympic Research Centre, Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University